The Planning Board, with meetings that go on for hours and reviews that go on for years, has been called dysfunctional. The board is supposed to have seven members, but there have not been seven members since August 2024. In the past year, three members have resigned. The board is currently one member short, and the most recent appointee, Ashraf Chowdhury, who was named to the Planning Board in February 2025, has yet to appear at a Planning Board meeting. There is talk of a petition calling for the resignation of Theresa Joyner, Planning Board chair, who was appointed to that position by Mayor Kamal Johnson in January 2022.
Gossips learned today that Lloyd Koedding, Republican candidate for mayor, has submitted a request to be appointed to the Planning Board. His letter to making that request is reproduced below.
COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK
Update: Koedding reported that he met with the mayor and the mayor's aide on Wednesday when he delivered his request for appointment and was told there were no vacancies on the Planning Board. This seems bizarre since, according to Gossips count, the Planning Board is one member short. There are three possible explanations: (1) they lied to him; (2) they were not aware of Gini Casasco's resignation; (3) the mayor has already appointed someone to replace Casasco, but that replacement has not yet been announced.
All of this sounds great, but they are only treating the symptoms of the problem. We have to replace the one who does the appointing. The one who let it become dysfunctional by either neglect or intent. We need to replace the mayor.
ReplyDeleteIt’s unfortunate so many important decisions are on the current board’s agenda. Hudson deserves better. But if these are the leaders we choose to elect, then Hudson gets what it deserves.
Hudson "deserves better" on so many fronts. So what's the problem? It ain't the government structure -- you only have to look at the HCSD to see how a "manager system" works. Not. We have too many people who don't know what Robert's Rules of Order is, much less run a coherent meeting. And finally, though not, we have too many people who are afraid to "speak up" or even vote. A recipe for Dysfunction Junction. We don't even have a daily newspaper that covers our $56 million school district, which, like it or not, is sending our future generation off to ... where? Whoa! God Bless Lloyd for caring and showing up. Peter M.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100%
DeletePlease, Carole, stop posting letters and other ridiculous documents from this phony huckster, you are only giving him credibility which he does not deserve. He's a Steve Bannon, RFK, Jr. MAGA-loving clown who, like Trump, will do nothing to improve life here in Hudson. Lloyd is trying his best to get into City Hall because he is probably tired of sitting at a computer in the library all day checking on his stocks and mutual funds between bouts of falling asleep. Do not encourage him or aid him in his insincere efforts, please! No matter how desperate and short staffed the PB is, the last person we need there is him!
ReplyDelete“Phony Huckster?” Really, Bill?
DeleteBill, if you and Lloyd teamed up… with your attention to detail and his temperament… you’d both be unstoppable!
I agree. As much as Lloyd is one of those irritants that is too irresistible to not look at, he's more and more becoming a symptom for a circus that needs to be reined in.
DeleteIt's not a coincidence that he's popping up as a seemingly legitimate political player now while so many other things are crashing and burning in Hudson, and beyond. Two years ago - another local election year - he wasn't running for office nor applying to be on the Planning Board. That's because there was still the feeling that the city was somewhat managed. It wasn't managed well by any measure, but Hudson wasn't within 12 months of bankruptcy, a whole block of lower Warren St hadn't been acquired by the county and a well-meaning but most likely harmful affordable housing strategy hadn't yet fully materialized.
In 2023, I thought the Colarusso haul road controversy could never be outdone. I was wrong.
Mayor Kamal and Council President Tom need to start doing their job and put the most pressing issues on the agenda first. Them being visibly insincere and disingenuous and playing political games is contagious and that's the reason why we are now staring at and discussing idiotic hand-written Lloyd artifacts.
The mayor has exhauted his usefullness and shoud resign with dignity
DeleteI heard about this petition earlier today but it's very nebulous to me as of yet. I have no idea if this is over the Mill Street project, the Colarusso conditional use permit or the general Planning Board dysfunction. Specifically, I find the timing odd.
ReplyDeleteIn yesterday's meeting, I believe the Planning Board created an unexpected yet necessary roadblock for the Mill St. applicants in that they now need to provide proof that their development isn't going to increase the occurrence of flooding for the existing nearby houses.
This is not an insignificant request and even if the applicant can do so, I trust that the Planning Board is aware that assessing the review of any applicant's flood study is pretty dicey. Any sense that they half-ass it will lead to repeated litigation against the city any time one of the pre-existing nearby buildings floods.
The state of the Colarusso application shouldn't trigger a revolt against Joyner either. The Planning Board agreed to another public hearing. They just rescheduled it which isn't a big deal.
That leaves the general dysfunction surrounding the Planning Board. I don't see how that is Theresa's fault.
If these petitioners really exist, I think they should direct their anger at the mayor instead. I don't see how he isn't the culprit behind most if not all of this. Write an open letter to him asking for her replacement. In all likelihood, it won't go anywhere but it will further fuel the public debate around this board. That is a necessary discussion that should continue.
TvP is right. The buck stops here
DeleteCan we please have a candidate that really focuses on parking and safety first?
ReplyDeleteThrowback to the time when Kamal and his cronies retaliated and bullied Loyd for expressing anti-racism views in a common council meeting.
ReplyDelete(i.e. saying equally poor black, white and brown residents should be treated equally in the allocation of public funds).